


Refuge

by Serena90



Category: Star-Crossed (TV 2014)
Genre: Alien Culture, Alien Invasion, Alien/Human Relationships, Aliens, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Childhood Trauma, Human/Omega, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Interspecies Relationship(s), M/M, Mentions of sexual slavery, Racism, Romance, Slavery, Speciesism, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-05
Updated: 2014-03-05
Packaged: 2018-01-14 16:52:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1273930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serena90/pseuds/Serena90
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In hiatus!</p><p>It started with one meeting to thank Grayson for defending Drake from the Red Hawks, a human group against Atrians, but one meeting turned into two, then into three and before he realised it Gray was his confidante.</p><p>For Grayson, it started as a way to get Intel on the Atrians for the Red Hawks. But he realises Roman is definitely not the enemy and the Atrians might not be as well.</p><p>Starts after episode 2, so spoiler alert if you haven't watched the first 2 episodes!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Refuge

**Author's Note:**

> Cannon background:
> 
> An Atrian spaceship crashed into a southern town and relationships between humans and Atrians are tense, the program to integrate Atrians into society is to let them attend high school. This program is promoted by the Atrian leader, Nox, Roman's father. So Roman goes to a human high school with six other Atrians where he's alienated.
> 
> Grayson is a from a prominent family and he lost his brother on "Arrival day" when he fought against the Atrians. His family funded the racist organization "Red Hawks". On cannon, you don't know if he's in it willingly or not.
> 
> In the cannon, the relationship is clearly going to be Human!Emery/Atrian!Roman, so not going to happen in this fic. Still, I recommend watching the first two episodes, it's less than two hours!

Roman took his books out of his locker, his blue eyes warily looking around for hostile human teenagers. Since he saw how those boys bullied his little sister, he was in high alert. He was also pissed off that the guard hadn't done anything to defend his sister. Although he didn't know why he had expected a human guard to protect his sister. He saw a tall brunette guy walking through the corridor and he tensed instinctively before realising who he was.

"Grayson!" called out Roman, hurrying after him.

The human teenager stopped and turned to him. Seeing the becoming Atrian, he raised a thick brown eyebrow expectantly. Grayson looked at the beautiful alien wondering what he wanted with him, was he mad because he had seen him with Emery?

Roman breathed in. He hadn't liked the imposing earthling since the first time he saw him with Emery, but he had helped Drake after being captured by the Red Hawks and it was his duty to thank him.

"Can we talk for a moment... privately?" he asked, his beautiful eyes darting around, expecting to see a spying Trag.

"Sure", answered the handsome human, confused at what the Atrian would want to talk about alone, "I know a place"

The graceful alien followed the earthling to an empty study hall, his elegant long fingers playing with the black straps of his old bag. The tall human leant against one of the walls and crossed his arms, impatiently. The Atrian looked at the thick bulging biceps, they seemed capable of breaking his arm like a twig.

"I just wanted to say... thank you. For helping Drake, you know? If the Red Hawks had left with him... they would've killed him. I-", Roman swallowed nervously, looking away, "it was very brave of you to confront such a big group for an Atrian. And I just- thank you"

The attractive human shifted uncomfortably, "It's not a big deal"

It felt so weird to have an Atrian thanking him so sincerely, his blue eyes full of honesty. As a Red Hawk, he believed that the Atrians were out to get them but looking at the beautiful creature in front of him, he couldn't believe Roman knew anything about it.

"It is!" exclaimed Roman earnestly meeting Grayson's grey green eyes, "this is the second time I've ever seen a human stand up for an Atrian. I- any other human would have just walked away but you stayed and freed Drake putting yourself at risk"

The rich boy was at a loss for words as he looked at the gorgeous alien, he finally said, "If you have trouble like that again, you can count on me"

Surprise spread through the fair Atrian's face, "I- thank you, you don't have to-"

"I want to", answered with strength of conviction that surprised even the human.

The pink lips of the alien twisted into a shy smile. He felt relived. He was under a lot of pressure, feeling constantly watched by the Trags and feeling guilty for giving the leadership position to his uncle. It felt liberating to know that someone was by his side.

"Thank you", he whispered softly.

The Red Hawk member looked on as the Atrian left the classroom with a soft hopeful smile on his gorgeous face. He sighed. He closed his eyes remembering how astonished Roman had been that a human had been willing to defend an alien and how hopeful he had been at Gray's words.

He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands. He could use this to his advantage. The Atrians were very private and the Red Hawks knew next to nothing about them, this could be an opportunity to obtain Intel.

As he left the classroom, he pushed away the thought that he hoped that Roman wasn't involved in any thoughts of invasion. He made his way home thinking of how to get discrete cameras into the empty study room, he knew the Red Hawks would need proof.

 

The first time Roman had met with Grayson had been meant to thank him for his help. Even though Gray's reaction had stunned him, he hadn't actually expected to take up the human on his word. But the human assholes had been tormenting his sister Sophia again and he knew only bad things would happen if he tried to stop them. So he met with Grayson again. The next day, all those human supremacists didn't say a word to his sister.

A third meeting became a fourth and before he knew it, he realised he liked and trusted Grayson. It was weird, since it was so hard for him to trust humans. But this human... he seemed different. Maybe he was vulnerable after the death of his father and the threat of the Trags, but Gray made him feel... safe. Like everything was under control. He could rely on Gray to protect him.

They were meeting in the empty study hall. No one ever came here because it was pretty inconvenient since it was far away from classes and the plugs didn't work.

"So... I don't want to sound offensive or anything... but why did the Atrians come to Earth?" asked Gray, holding his head up with his strong hand.

Roman laughed melodiously, "It's the first time a human has asked me that instead of assuming we just came to invade you"

The Red Hawk member studiously avoided the camera that was recording the conversation. So far, he hadn't gotten much out of Roman. He had only learnt that some guards were abusive in the sector and that created a lot of resentment for the Atrians.

He also knew that Roman felt guilty for not being capable of protecting his people better, even though he had given his leadership position to Castor. Of course, the alien hadn't said it outright like that but Gray had seen the signs.

His grandfather, the secret leader of the Red Hawks, was pleased with his progress. Although he could see how disconcerted he was by Roman, he wasn't like they expected aliens to be. When his family thought of Atrians, they thought of his brother's killers. But Roman was... sweet, which was completely unexpected.

Seeing that the comely Atrian was trying to change the subject, the human asked again, "So why did you come?"

The pretty blue eyes stared at the grey table, "We were trying to escape. Earth was the furthest habitable planet"

"Escape?" questioned the athletic brunette, bewildered.

He had never expected that answer. For the people who didn't think Atrians had come to colonise them, they thought the Atrians had arrived to their planet because they wanted to explore. He had never heard before that the aliens had been trying to escape anything and it must have been something terrible by Roman's expression.

He had seen Roman look lost and fragile when the Trags or the Red Hawks were mentioned around him. But he had never seen that expression on his beautiful face before.

The alien smiled bitterly, "We were invaded. In my home planet, we weren't only four tribes, Gray. We were one sixty. Only our four tribes managed to escape"

Invasion? How come they had never heard of this before? If the Atrians had been invaded, then Earth could also be in danger of invasion! Maybe the government had covered that up to avoid panic amongst the population. This was important, his grandfather had to know this.

Good God, they had never even thought of other species! They hadn't considered other aliens, even though they had proof there was at least one species of aliens. His grandfather was going to be furious.

The handsome human paled, "Invaded? By whom? Why?"

"Erövrare", whispered the Atrian, seeming afraid of the mere word, "They are a very aggressive species, if they want something they usually take it by force"

Roman seemed so breakable at that moment. He looked so devastated and Gray wanted to hug him and tell him everything would be ok, but if he did, the Atrian may stop talking and he needed him to keep talking. So the Earthling waited patiently for Roman to elaborate.

Nox's first born laughed bitterly, "We thought we were safe because our planet didn't have anything they needed and we were no challenge to them. The only thing we were better at was healing and harvesting and they had a low regard for healing and no need for extra crops, at least the ones we cultivated"

"So... why did they invade your planet? What did they want?" asked cautiously Gray but intently.

Roman clenched his hands and kept his blue eyes on the grey table, "I don't know if you have noticed but Atrians tend to be beautiful creatures. Compared to other species, we're aesthetically pleasing... We're beautiful and fragile compared to Erövrares. They- they wanted-"

The human frowned, he didn't like where this was going. The Atrian inhaled deeply and Grayson realised that his hands were trembling. Without thinking, he reached out and encased one of Roman's elegant hands into his strong and warm hand, trying to show his support.

The Atrian was in tears, "They- it wasn't that they had problems with breeding or anything like that... it wasn't even that they didn't have enough partners to procreate or anything like that. They just- They found us pretty and decided that they would have us and we would have no say in the matter. We were so fucking naïve. We knew they were aggressive but it didn't even occur to us that they could be interested in _us_ "

Gray hugged the frail Atrian, enveloping the slender teenager with his strong arms, "They invaded you to enslave you"

"Yes", choked out Roman, "we were to be a _prize_ for their fucking generals and leaders. Like, oh! You conquered this tiny planet and every year now they'll pay a tribute to us, so you get this pretty little Atrian just for you! We were a _delicatessen_ since we are sooo rare!

>>The four tribes... we're from a part of Atria with magnetic fluctuations. It was harder for them to invade that area since their weapons and transport didn't work as well. So while they enslaved the rest of our planet, we had time to create a spaceship to escape"

The human rubbed Roman's back soothingly. The Atrian felt more fragile in his arms than he had expected: his shoulders far less wide, his musculature wasn't as developed and he was shorter. Somehow, he felt protective.

The pretty alien sobbed openly, "We _abandoned_ our species to save ourselves. We left them to be _enslaved_ while we got to safety"

"Roman", called him gently Gray, trying to calm him.

"We couldn't have won", he said desperately, looking into Gray's eyes, "Their population was ten times ours and their war technology at least fifty years more advanced. If we had tried to fight and we had won against their troops, they would've just sent more. They would have just enslaved us as well in the end. And yet... we _abandoned_ them. I go to sleep every night knowing that the rest of my species is either enslaved or dead"

"It wasn't your fault, you were just a child at the time. And the four tribes did what they had to do to survive"

It took an hour to calm down Roman. In the end, the Atrian had simply _had_ to calm down since he was supposed to take the bus and couldn't show up with tear tracks and trembling. Gray knew he shouldn't feel proud of how the alien had managed to compose himself to show strength for his people but he was.

When Roman left, the Red Hawk looked at the camera. He wondered how his grandfather was going to react. If what Roman had told him was true and Gray was sure Roman _thought_ it was the truth, then the Atrians weren't actually the enemies. Earth could be in danger of the Erövrares.


End file.
